Florida Jewelry Store Owner Accused Of Staging Robbery At His Own Store

posted by Bill Galluccio -
Apr 16, 2019

The owner of a jewelry store in Miami, Florida was arrested after police say he filed a false robbery report. Levon Papikyan, who owns Deroso Jewelry, claimed that he was pepper sprayed by an armed assailant who stole four gold bars which were worth around $80,000.

The bars were given to Papikyan earlier that morning by Argentine businessman Juan Leiva and another client.

“It is serious money that I lost, and now I’m trying to recover it, if possible,” Leiva told NBC6. "I thought that in Miami I could be sure there wouldn't be these kinds of problems. But I was wrong."

Investigators realized something was wrong as Papikyan's story kept changing.

“At this point, we can say he lied, and we did charge him legitimately with filing a false police report,” Miami police spokeswoman Kenia Fallat told the news outlet.

Papikyan bonded out of jail and is awaiting a hearing on the misdemeanor charge.

Leiva hired a private investigator to track down the gold bars who believes that Papikyan should be charged with grand theft if he was behind the robbery.